Awards and Honors
Congratulations to the following faculty and staff for achieving special distinction this quarter:
Internal Medicine
The Internal Medicine Clerkship received the highest ranking of "excellent" from the
Aesculapian Society for the 2002-23 academic year. Department leadership acknowledged
faculty in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans for their contributions and offered
special thanks to clerkship leaders Dr. Greg Ardoin (Lafayette), Dr. Dean Lauret (Baton
Rouge), Dr. Neeraj Jain (Cardiology), and Dr. Victoria Burke (Infectious Diseases)
and Kelly Rauser.
Four department members department were selected for the Chancellor’s Excellence Award: Angela McLean, MD, Associate Dean for Admissions—Medicine; Elyse Stevens, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Community & Population Medicine; Ashley Wennerstrom, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Research, Community & Population Medicine; and Cecilia Estep, Pulmonary/Critical Care Residency Coordinator.
Dr. Ben DeBoisblanc (Pulmonary/Critical Care) was recently selected as OMC Kenner’s Quarterly Physician Champion.
Fred A. Lopez, MD, MACP, Professor of Medicine and Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Internal Medicine, has been appointed by the American College of Physicians as a Deputy Editor of the Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (i.e., MKSAP), the "most trusted resource in continuous learning for internal medicine physicians and residents."
Dr. Katherine Lavie (Baton Rouge) was awarded the 2023 Sister Brendan Mary Ronayne Award from Our Lady of the Lake, given on World AIDS Day for her dedication to the care of patients living with HIV in Baton Rouge. Sr. Brendan Mary was recognized as an instrumental figure in the 1980s in caring for patients with care and compassion.
Ophthalmology
Hathanh Nguyen, COA (Certified Ophthalmic Assistant) at the LSUHNO Eye Center on St.
Charles Avenue, was recognized as a HealthCare Hero by the HealthCare Network. She
is pictured here with Caroline Munson, HN Director of Quality, Monique Clark, HN Director
of Operations, Jessica Pfister, Eye Center Office Manager, & Jayne S. Weiss, MD, HN
Chief Medical Officer.
Pediatrics
Hanh Rimmer (Fellowship Coordinator) was nominated for the Chancellor’s LSU Health
Excellence Awards. The award recognizes 15 faculty and 15 staff members, nominated
by their peers, who advance the vision and mission of the university in an exceptional
way.
The American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the Official Journal of the National Kidney Foundation, announced their top five research publications from a pool of over 1,000 original investigation submissions. Dr. Diego Aviles, Section Head of Nephrology, was a co-author on “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Acute Care Utilization Among Patients with Glomerular Disease,” one of the top five research publications selected.
Psychiatry
Professor and Chair of Psychiatry Rahn Baily, MD, has been chosen by the American
Psychiatric Association (APA) Foundation as the recipient of the 2024 Solomon Carter
Fuller Award. (See the full article here).
Dr. Shane Bierma's (Section of Psychology) research team’s paper "Education Racial and Gender Disparities in COVID-19 Worry, Stress, and Food Insecurities across Undergraduate Biology Students at a Southeastern University" was named as one of the top 10 most cited papers in 2023 in ASM Journals.
Physiology
Dr. Flavia Souza Smith won the 2023 Chancellor’s Excellence Award.
Radiology
Dr. David Smith was selected as the 2022-23 LSU Radiology Teacher of the Year.